Abortion Deserts: Inequitable access amidst COVID-19

With only one facility to receive a safe, legal abortion in six states -- North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, and West Virginia -- most residents in the South and Midwest find themselves in abortion deserts (areas in which one must travel over 100 miles to get access to safe, legal abortion care). Published in 2018, "Identifying National Availability of Abortion Care and Distance From Major US Cities" found that around 90% of counties in the U.S. lacked an abortion provider, highlighting how for much of the U.S., distance to an abortion facility and provider remains one of the greatest barriers to access. During COVID-19, quarantine orders only complicate the great distances people must travel.

The visual results of this map reveal the amount of area that fall within abortion deserts in the six states with the most restrictive state abortion laws, a finding that is particularly troubling when compared to the abundance of CPCs in each state. The map highlights how large portions of the Midwest and South have no nearby access to an abortion facility, but an abundance of access to CPCs. While I only included states with a single abortion clinic in my display of abortion deserts, the 2018 study mentioned above found that of any U.S. state, Texas had the greatest amount of abortion deserts, with 10 cities lacking a nearby abortion facility. Yet, while that study only included abortion deserts in cities, my map can show visually, how, as has been evidenced previously, abortion deserts stretch all parts of these states -- from urban cities to rural areas. If the six abortion facilities in each state highlighted above close, the 4 million women of reproductive age from those states will be forced to travel greater distances out of state to seek abortion care.